It's time for some women to grow up!

I think some women have been getting off too easily in the way they act and present themselves.  Of course, men aren't going to complain because it's for their visual benefit.  So it's time for a woman to woman chat, ladies.  What exactly am I talking about?  I'm talking about women leaving the flirting to the teenagers and back off married men!  Some women don't have high standards like caring if  a wedding ring is on a man's finger.  They think it's innocent fun, or a chance to be naughty without the consequences.  Women know what they're doing, there is nothing innocent about any coy remark.  I'm going to take this a step further and say women should develop standards for their office attire.  I'm at the bank and this young bank teller's cleavage is staring me in the face.  I was going to make her aware that I didn't need to see what bra she bought at Victoria's Secret, when it occurred to me she knows what she's doing.  She wants that attention.  There's a woman at my husband's office that too easily revealed her stomach just by reaching above her.  She knows what she's doing too.  It upsets me when I see Today show segments about women being able to "express" their sexuality by the clothes they wear in public.  I say you can express your sexuality by the lingerie you select that only one other person will see.  I don't want to see it.  Ah...but that's the interesting point.  It's not for me.  It's for men.  Men are visual creatures.  It's the "shiny nickel" complex.  They just can't help but look.  I say the women that dress this way all the time have the lowest self-esteem who need to get mens' attention by taking advantage of their visual weakness.  It seems women are foregoing the importance of the respect women before them have fought so hard for.  It's more important to them to be viewed as sexy then demand respect.  It's very hard to have both.  Beauty and brains, yes.  The office mattress and respect? No.  C'mon ladies, we have boobs.  Men know we have boobs.  Do we really need to go further?  Where does the need come from to show them off to every Tom, Dick and Harry.  You're at work, then work.  Stop wasting company money by flirting. It's not high school.  You are setting us back 50 years.  Why don't you stay home like women did back then and gossip with your neighbors if you can't act like an employee? Do you really think you'll get that raise by showing off your goods to your boss? You might get an advance that you don't want and then cry you're being sexually harassed.  And don't get me started on Hooters!

What was I thinking?

I actually arrived at Kohl's at 4:05 a.m. on Friday.  I couldn't believe they were selling a classic Kitchen Aid mixer for $120, orginal price $250.  The last time I did anything black Friday related was four years ago, and even then I didn't get to the store until 7:00 a.m.  I had my mind fixed on having this mixer.  By the time I found where they were, they were gone.  I got the second thing on my list (pots and pans) and attempted to get in line.  Five minutes later I am able to find the back of the line and wait...and wait.  I hear a woman say to her husband, "There's no line in the front of the store."  My half-awake brain tries to decipher the information and when processed, it's a eureka moment.  I say to the girl next to me, "Let's go to the front of the store!"  We head there and the line was not half as bad.  Everyone was extremely nice considering the bad rep a black Friday crowd gets. 

I just couldn't admit defeat about that mixer.  I thought, if Kohl's can get the price so low, surely another company can sell it for that as well.  I found it on Amazon for the same price, free shipping.  So in the midst of my determination, Julio asks me why do I want this mixer?  What does it do?  I say I don't know, but everyone wants one.  He thinks I'm joking because I'm never like that.  I just know it's a much coveted item for women I know.  It's like an heirloom to pass on to generation after generation.  It will blend food.  Beyond that, not sure.  Anything that helps me cook is a good thing.

All the time and expensive gas wasted, and now it's being shipped to me from the click of a checkout button. Brillant!

Looks like I'll lose to a girl in a bra

What was I thinking going up against the next generation...the YouTube generation.  "The Give Us Your Voice" contest has brought everyone out of the woodwork.  Me, the gen Xer, actually read what was required, and did it.  It's these young people that have to turn it into a whole production making me look bad.  There's nothing wrong with their creativity.  Their generation is used to making every little thing into a video and uploading it for all to see.  In my day, we didn't have fancy things like the "internet" and "digital" cameras.  In my day, we had to send out our film and wait three full days before we ever saw if our thumb was in the picture.

So, it blew me away that a girl made her own "Part of Your World" video pretty decently.  She did her best to make her living room look like an ocean.  She also looked a little too comfortable performing in her purple bra.  Yes, I get it.  Ariel has purple sea shells.  The contest wasn't called "Give Us Your Boobs" contest.  I mean can we sing a song and be done with it? You know what they say, video killed the radio star.  Well I say YouTube killed the chances of me winning this contest because I don't want the whole world seeing me in a bra.

The conference call that didn't get to happen

Last week I was set up with Julian's teacher and his psychiatrist for a conference call to discuss his symptoms.  I get a call from another doctor saying that Julian's doctor had a personal emergency and will call later to reschedule.  I find out later that he was attacked by a female patient and went to the hospital.  He had a fracture on his face (he didn't say where) from her hitting him with a phone.  She was arrested for aggravated assault.  So I have to wait another week to have the call and another week after that before we solidify anything. 

His doctor is a gentle man, all skin and bones.  He apologized to the teacher and to me for not being able to keep the appointment.  I said we both understand, how could anyone not? I will keep you updated.  Tonight, Julian's having an all boys sleep over.  I have plenty of Tylenol in stock.

P.S.  A quick shout out to a certain relative in Pottstown--you know who you are.  Thanks for reading!

Our Little Flower Girl

(Click for a larger image)

Besides entering the Little Mermaid contest, Saturday was spent at an upscale bridal shop shopping for my sister's wedding dress.  Where did my fourteen year old sister go?  I can't believe this time has come.  It was a very cozy time with my mom, her mother-in-law to be, and as featured, Madeleine.  Of course, Madeleine had the most fun trying on flower girl dresses.  She wanted the dress with the "diamonds" on it, naturally.  It would make no sense to buy one now since the wedding is a year and a half away.  She is already tall for her age, I can't imagine how tall she'll be then. 

The most important thing about the time shopping was the support my sister received.  I always wanted her to have the best life could offer her.  Saturday can be a warm memory she can tuck away and remember the love that her family showed her that day.

It figures...

It took a lot for me to post my Little Mermaid song on Broadwayworld.com but it had to be done.  I had loved the music of the Little Mermaid since it came out while I was in seventh grade.  Starting around that time, a favorite past time of mine began: manipulating my voice to sound like my favorite singers.  So Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel, became fun to mimic.  Flash forward to now: not being able to fall back asleep at 4 a.m. last week, I stumbled upon this contest with two days left to enter.  The winner would get to be in the recording studio for the cast recording, tickets to the show and more. I had to do it.  I would regret not doing it, no matter what kind of geek I would look like. We don't have the greatest digital recorder, so the video did not turn out the best.  But I did it.  I had all my ducks in a row.  The submission was approved.  Now, I just had to get all my family and friends, and all their friends to vote for me.  I sent a mass e-mail out detailing my plight.  I know some people did forward it on to their friends of which I am grateful.  The problem?  I went by voting dates that the website listed, starting today.  For some reason they did not letting anyone vote today.  I'm afraid that people who tried to vote today will not stop back later in the week.  This request to vote is extended to my readers.  Voting, when it becomes available, ends December 3rd.  Here's the link: http://www.broadwayworld.com/mermaid.cfm#entries.  Thank you to everyone who has attempted already, I'll let you know when they stop being stupid. 

P.S.  Voting finally started Monday!

Learn three chords and you too can be a Disney star!

It all started with Lori Berkner.  Before her, I could care less who got a two minute spot in between kid shows.  Her enthusiam and creativity really show through in her videos.  She began to set the bar very high for children's music.  I downloaded the song "We are the Dinosaurs" which is Madeleine's favorite.  Lori had written the song for children to have a way to express their anger in a creative way.  It worked. 

I hate to insult the Dan Zane fans out there...but I have to.  Noggin started showing his videos soon after Lori's.  Yes, he's been in the biz for a long time, but that doesn't mean he's better.  Lori's videos are personal, like she's singing to you.  In Dan's videos, all the musicians acted like they were too cool to make eye contact with the camera or be engaging with the kids dancing around them. The songs were mediocre.

Disney has seen the light that Noggin created and has really started recruiting musicians to show their stuff during Playhouse Disney.  They actually gave Dan Zane his own segment, which has come a long way from those first videos.  I saw the Imagination Movers which has become my favorite kid band on Disney.  I love the song "I Want My Mommy"  that talks about being scared in your bed.  I love when artists think about their audience and what they could be going through.  Not just what couldn't sell to adults and has been dumbed down for kids.  What were they thinking when they hired Ralph Covert of Ralph's World?  When his first release repeats the word swim about 1000 times.  Like he ran out of ideas midway through the song and improvised the rest.  The video is extremely low budget.  The 10 kids in the audience don't really like the song either.  Let me share with you his astounding lyrics:

At the bottom of the sea, where the mermaids murmur,
You’ll find me at the bottom of the sea
At the bottom of the sea, where the crabs walk backwards
That’s where I’ll be, at the bottom of the sea
And I’m gonna swim swimma swim swim swimma swim swim swim
To the bottom of the sea
At the bottom of the sea, where the dogfish woof-glub
and the catfish meow-glub, that’s where I’ll be
At the bottom of the sea where the fish all glub-glub

Not to totally bury these guys.  They have won awards and acclaim.  So I became interested in why these people chose to pursue a career entertaining kids.  The reason?  They couldn't make it as rock stars.  Both had one hit wonder bands.  Dan had the del Fuegos, and Ralph the Bad Examples.  Both discovered the market for making children's music when they became fathers.  I think that's great.  I'm sure a lot of people enjoy their music.  I can't get into it.  I hate their videos.  My kids don't like them either.  It's a good time to practice your three chords and find your niche.  Disney's waiting for your call.

A New Diagnosis

I have been relating to Julian's doctor how school remains such a problem for him since September.  His doctor has commented how the anxiety has really calmed down.  So he gave me two questionaires to rule out ADHD.  One for me and one for his teacher.  This is the third time I have filled out this questionaire.  Filling it out this time, things started to make sense.  Problems had elevated to the level that I didn't mark everything with a 0 or 1.  I presented these back to the doctor.  He calculated the numbers in front of us so we would know how to proceed.  He then sat back perplexed on his next move.  He said ADHD needed to be confirmed by the behavior present in two settings, school and at home.  His teacher was seeing the hyperactivity, and I was seeing the inattentiveness, but neither saw both.  The findings were enough to say he had ADHD though.  Then came the concern of medication.  Technically, he would be approved to receive meds for it.  I can see some of my readers up in arms over this.  Worry not, dear readers.  Both his doctor and I remain very conservative over that issue for a number of reasons.  For his doctor, he is concerned that the drugs are a stimulant, which would increase anxiety.  Also, because my son has tachycardia, the stimulants in those drugs would be detrimental.  I have consulted the wonderful book Perscription for Nutritional Healing by Balch and Balch for information.  A quick thanks to Miss Ceido is in order for giving me the book in the first place.  There lists nutrients to combat the symptoms, which is my next step.  His doctor and I have a conference call with Julian's teacher next week to get a more accurate analysis of the situation.  Anyone with experience with this issue is welcome to share, especially since the majority of my readers prefer to remain so anonymous. :)

The Blonde Experiment

I am about to speak candidly about my observations and experiences pertaining to blonde hair dye.   If I offend, it is not intentional, but the truth must come out.   

For the background to my story, I will let you know I never started dyeing my hair until I was 29.  This gives me ample street cred as a brunette.  It's given me plenty of time for observation on how brunettes survive and exist. 

It all started when my cousin and I got old enough to date.  She was pretty and confident and almost two years older than me.  Growing up next to her wasn't easy.  The boys would be constantly calling for her and most of them she didn't care for.  Well, for a wallflower like me, there were always blind dates she could arrange for me.  The problem?  They all liked her and I couldn't prove enough of a distraction for them not to.  Can I go out on a limb and say being blonde helped?  Of course, important things like self-esteem and fashion sense help in one's plight which I didn't have either.  However on the nights of those blind dates we would spend hours getting ready.  By the time she was done with me I had enough makeup on to at least make it appear I was confident.

Well nothing ever transpired from those days, just worst self-esteem seeing that I couldn't even get one of my cousin's rejects.   I have the habit that if I'm made to feel like I don't measure up to a person or situation, I rebel from it.  I became anti-everything, and from there grew self-confidence.  I didn't say it made me prettier or happier, just confident. 

Then when I became a mom, caring about my looks took a backseat.  Slowly, from my parenting mags I took in advice about making yourself up and interviews from husbands about looks they like.  I never thought about it before.  My husband married me for me, would he like me to change my look? (Or lack thereof)  I started noticing when we would be in a mall, it would always be the blonde that would turn his head.  This made me mad.  What's in a hair color?  But it wasn't just him. 

An eye opening experience was when I went to the mall with my younger sister.  She is very pretty...and at the time, very blonde.  We went into a children's clothing store, I obviously the one with the child.  The clerk approaches her very friendly and says nothing to me.  It happens again in another store.  I make this into an observation game for the rest of the trip.  Walking behind her, I keep my eyes focused on everyone that comes in her path.  The men would stare at her and blonde women would give her dirty looks.  The latter made no sense to me.  She was only 20 years old at the time and these women ranging in age from teens to 40s would look at her as if to abhor her existence on the earth. 

Julio had been joking around about me going blonde for years.  I thought, well I was until I was four, it can't be that much of a stretch.  I became keenly aware of women and their hair.  I would ask myself, what makes this woman pretty?  I would notice facial features and not see anything special.  It was the blonde hair.  The color just seemed to offset any unattractiveness.  I began to notice women with pretty features could easily pull off brown or black hair.  Those colors enhanced their features.  I knew then for sure this blonde thing was for me.

Am I saying take away the color and blonde women wouldn't be pretty?  Of course not.  To me, it gives paticular women a little "umph"  to their looks.  I am one of those women that need it.  So now it was my turn out in public.  Would my blonde experience really be different?  I have to say in subtle, but interesting ways.  For one thing, I am not called ma'am anymore.  I prefer to be called "miss" anyday.  Julio has noticed I get checked out a lot more, which is something new to me.  What I find the most interesting is how other blonde women see me.  If I'm in a room of mostly men and a blonde woman walks in, the first thing she does is look at me as if to say, "What are you doing here?"  Perhaps, I'm stealing her spotlight?  I really can't stand how women can be so petty.  Unfortunetly, sometimes blonde and petty go hand-in-hand.  That's when I embrace the brunette within and feel good I have so much more to offer then my hair color.